Dundee United

Despite being rooted to the bottom of the Scottish Premiership, Arabs boss Mixu Paatelainen has done some good business in the January transfer window.

The arrivals of Japan goalkeeper Eiji Kawashima and Finland international Riku Riski bode well if they can start to pick up some points over the next few games.

The risks of joining United could be if the season continues to falter, it all turns out to be a wasted exercise as Dundee United are consigned to second-tier football.

It looks the most likely at this stage.

Firepower boost: Mixu Paatelainen needs a striker (Image: SNS Group)

Inverness Caley Thistle

This option may well be the most appealing from a football aspect for the Irishman.

Stokes has a real familiarity with John Hughes, having spent a loan spell with Falkirk under his tutelage, and a season at Hibs when Yogi was in charge.

Inverness play good football, and Stokes would quickly become a focal point of that.

It's a fair distance to uproot yourself, and maybe Stokes would prefer to stay nearer Glasgow, but there is no doubt ICT could offer him a chance to rediscover his form.

John Hughes is hoping to be reunited with Anthony Stokes (Image: PA/SNS)

Hibernian

This could be a likely destination.

Alan Stubbs is fan of the talented striker, and his arrival could be the jolt needed to pip Rangers to the title in the Scottish Championship.

Perhaps the biggest indicator of whether Celtic want Rangers to return to the Premiership would be if they loaned Stokes to Hibs.

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A fired-up Stokes could swing the momentum in the title race, and is that something Celtic really want?

Stokes has experience at the club, and it will not involve a huge upheaval by signing with Hibs on a short-term deal.

England

There would be many a Championship side who would like to add Stokes to their squad for the remainder of the season.

Sides such as Ipswich, Brighton and Sheffield Wednesday are all on the fringes of playoff contention, and all the aforementioned teams have experiences with bringing in ex-Celtic players such as Beram Kayal, Daryl Murphy and Gary Hooper.